Wild Bill, The Wild West, and Wild Exaggeration

Wild Bill Hickok who, according to the media of his day, killed more than 100 men

August 2, 1876 — According to his critics, the wildest thing about ‘Wild Bill’ Hickok, who was murdered on this day, was the exaggerated account he gave of his exploits in the Wild West.

But he was a legend in his own lifetime, a man who over the years spent his time as an army scout, gambler, gold prospector, even an actor, and most famously as a gunfighting sheriff.

He boasted that he had killed numerous gunmen – a claim supported by many newspapers and magazines of the day – but not by Joseph G. Rosa, his respected British biographer.

His 1964 book – ‘They Called Him Wild Bill: The Life and Adventures of James Butler Hickok’ – is regarded as the definitive work on the Wild West legend, and when researching it Rosa could discover only seven victims of Hickok’s guns.

By contrast, Harper's New Monthly Magazine claimed in 1867 that Hickok had killed more than 100 men.

Much of his career, in fact, is known to have been exaggerated both by himself and the media of the day.

The “fake news” that launched his reputation was known as the McCanles Massacre that took place at a stage depot in Rock Creek, Nebraska, in July, 1861.

Hickok was working there as a stable-hand when rancher David McCanles and a group of men came to collect a debt and exchanged angry words with the station manager. It led to a gunfight during which Hickok allegedly shot dead three men.

But according to a highly exaggerated account of the incident in Harper’s magazine, Hickok had single-handedly killed ten men. He was made out to be the hero of the slaughter, the report claiming that he shot five gang members, knocked out another and despatched three more in hand-to-hand combat.

The article quoted him as saying: “I was wild and I struck savage blows.”

Before the McCanles shootings Hickok had sometimes been jokingly known as “Duck Bill” because of his long aquiline nose and protruding lips. Making use of his new notoriety he grew a moustache to hide his upper lip, and encouraged people to call him "Wild Bill" instead of "Duck Bill”.

He was born James Butler Hickok in Homer, Illinois (now Troy Grove) on May 27, 1837. His father was a farmer.

From an early age the boy was an outstanding marksman and aged 24 joined the Union Army at the outbreak of the Civil War. He became a scout and later a provost marshal. Though no official record exists, he is believed to have served as a Union spy in the Confederate Army before his discharge in 1865.

After that he moved to Springfield, Missouri, where he became involved in an infamous encounter with a gambler named Davis Tutt.

Hickok lost a gold watch to Tutt in a poker game and when tensions boiled over the two men faced up to each other in the town square. It was to be one of the first quick-draw duels in history.

Hickok shot his rival through the heart and was arrested for murder, but acquitted by a jury.

Another exaggerated account of the gunfight in Harper’s Magazine added to his fame across the country and he would go on to serve as a marshal in the Kansas towns of Hays City and Abilene.

Tragically, he accidentally shot dead his own deputy marshal in Abilene, an incident that led two months later to him being relieved of his duties.

No longer a lawman, Hickok turned to the stage to make a living after his old friend Buffalo Bill Cody asked him to try acting and invited him to join his troupe. They performed together in Rochester, New York, in 1873.

But Hickok hated the experience so much that on one occasion, when the spotlight turned on him, he pulled out a gun and shot it! After leaving the troupe he returned West.

So it was on the first of August 1876, that Hickok was playing cards in a saloon in Deadwood, South Dakota. One of the players, a local named Jack McCall, was losing heavily and Hickok offered him money so he could buy a meal.

The next day Hickok was at the same table but, unusually, with his back to the door. So he did not see the deeply offended McCall enter the bar. The troubled poker player shot his victim in the back of the head at point-blank range and at the age of 39 a legend of the American West was dead.

There are stories about Hickok that say something about the kind of man he was. One of them relates to a time in 1860 when he was driving a freight wagon from Missouri to New Mexico while working for Pony Express.

Most people on a journey, confronted by a bear and her two cubs, would (a) wait until they’ve moved; (b) go round them; or (c) find another way.

Not Hickok. When he saw the group of bears ahead he pulled out his gun, approached the mother bear and fired at her head.

According to his own account the bullet ricocheted off the bear’s skull, and the enraged animal then attacked, crushing Hickok with its body. He managed to fire another shot, wounding the bear's paw. The bear then seized his arm in its teeth, but Hickok grabbed his knife and slashed the creature’s throat, killing it.

With a crushed chest, shoulder and arm, Hickok was bedridden for four months recovering from his injuries – probably deservedly so in the view of modern wildlife conservationists!

Hickok was a complex character with good and bad attributes. In his honour a monument at his birthplace put up by the state of Illinois in 1929 reads: “James Butler ‘Wild Bill’ Hickok, pioneer of the Great Plains, served his country as a scout and spy in the western states to preserve the Union in the Civil War.

“Equally great were his services on the Frontier as Express messenger and upholder of law and order. He contributed largely in making the West a safe place for woman and children. His sterling courage was always at the service of right and justice.”

Published: July 26, 2022
Updated: July 30, 2022